Moving House Checklist

Grouped by when, not by what

Four checklist blocks. The headings are timeframes — six weeks before, one week before, moving day, after the move — and underneath sit a list for address changes and a table for utilities.

Three to eight blank task rows a group, four to ten rows in each of the other two, so you can size it to a studio flat or a family house.

Why the grouping is by date

Because most of what goes wrong in a move is a timing failure, not a forgetting failure.

People know they need to redirect the post. What they miss is that it takes time to set up, and that doing it the day before is too late. A list organised by category invites you to work down it in whatever order you feel like; a list organised by deadline tells you what is already overdue.

Six weeks out

The block for anything with a lead time. Book the removal firm — good ones go early, particularly at the end of a month, which is when most completions land. Give notice to your landlord, in writing, with the notice period checked. Start the redirect application. Book time off for the day itself and the day after.

Also start using up the freezer, which sounds trivial and is the single most annoying thing to discover on the morning.

The utilities table

Gas, electricity, water, broadband, council tax, TV licence. Each wants a closing reading or a final date. Each wants setting up at the other end.

Photograph every meter on the day you leave and again on the day you arrive, with the date visible. Meter disputes are common and completely unarguable once there is a photograph — and broadband in particular should be ordered weeks ahead, since an install slot is not something you can hurry.

The address list is longer than you think

Bank, employer, GP and dentist, DVLA for the licence and the vehicle log book, insurers, pension, school, vet, subscriptions, anything that posts you a card.

The DVLA ones are a legal requirement rather than a courtesy, and driving licence and V5C are separate notifications. Redirection is a safety net rather than a solution: it runs out, and mail that arrives at your old address after that is a small identity risk.

Moving day

Keep one box out of the van. Kettle, mugs, tea, toilet roll, phone chargers, medication, a change of clothes, the paperwork.

Everything else can be found eventually. Those cannot, and finding them at nine in the evening in a house of identical boxes is the specific misery this sheet exists to prevent.